People of all ages may be affected with cancer, with the risk generally increasing with age. About 13% of all human deaths are caused by cancer so it is a significant health problem. Cancer is usually treated with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. In spite of advances in treatment, there still remains a need for more efficacious treatment regimens for cancer.
In the past 15 years, many discoveries have been made in understanding stem cells. There have been proposals to use stem cells for treating a wide variety of afflictions, including Parkinson's disease, spinal cord injuries, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and multiple sclerosis. Described herein are novel methods for the use of stem cells for the treatment of cancer.